Mechanical device for the reading and storing of the working positions of a moving machine element



March 1, 1960 GRQTTRUP ETAL MECHANICAL DEVICE FOR THE READING AND STORING OF THE WORKING POSITIONS OF A MOVING MACHINE-ELEMENT Filed 001;. 22, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR l-LGr-oHru r P- Weber M 9 ATTORNEY March 1, 1960 H. GRGTTRUP ETAL 2 27,

MECHANICALDEVICEFORTHEREADINGANDSTORINGOFTHE WORKING POSITIONS OF A MOVING MACHINE ELEMENT Filed Oct. 22, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 1 Maiar Fig. 7c

section C-D,v/'ew in direction A Fig. 7b

INVENTOR H. Grail-rap R- W8b BY j ATTORNEY March 1, 1960 H. GRCTTRUP -T L 2,927,

MECHANICAL DEVICE FOR THE READING AND STORING OF THE WORKING POSITIONS OF A MOVING MACHINE ELEMENT Filed Oct. 22, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 A TTOKNE Y ijnitecl rates Patent-G MECHANICAL DEVICE FOR THE READING AND STORING OF THE WORKING POSITIONS OF A MOVING MACHINE ELEMENT Helmut Griittrup, Birirenfeld, Wurttemberg, and. Rudi Weber, Pforzheim, Germany, assignors to international Standard Electric Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Application October 22, 1957, Serial No. 691,589

Claims priority, application Germany October 27, 1956 11 Claims. (Cl. 200-46) The present invention relates to a device for the reading of the working positions of a moving machine element. In technical engineering work there often arises the problem of ascertaining the working positions of a machine element; one of the most well-known examples in this respect is the ascertainment of the just actuated printing types in modern booking or computing machines for the purpose of duplicating or any other storing of the text.

The reading devices which have become known to this end may be roughly divided in two groups. To the first group there belong those types of devices where the working position is ascertained at the place where the machine is being actuated for achieving the respective working position. Hence in the case of booking or computing machines, the depressed button itself is ascertained, in that e.g. the buttons, upon depression, act upon electric contacts for the completion of circuits and the releasing of signals for identifying the respective printing type. Such kinds of arrangements, however, bear the disadvantage of affording a great number of contacts and many lines, which all have to be installed within a relatively small space available.

The second group includes those kinds of devices which are adapted to ascertain the positions of the machine elements themselves with respect to their normal position or a predetermined initial position respectively. Such devices have also been proposed for the employment with booking or computing machines in which several printing types are arranged above each other on a printing type bar and in which the type bar, for the printing of the individual types, has to be lifted more or less, as is the case e.g. for the printing of the figures through 9. For ascertaining or determining the type, which has been set for the printing operation, therefore, the position of the printing type bar with respect to its normal position may be used or evaluated. To this end numerous kinds of diflerent devices have be come known. In the one case special magnets are assigned to the individual positions, and that particular magnet in front of which the mark that is attached to the type bar comes to rest is permitted to attract or release. Instead of the magnetic arrangement, a capacitively operating arrangement may also be employed. In another arrangement 'a photoelectric scanning of the type bar settings is used. As a rule, however, the latter kind of arrangement still requires special amplifier arrangements. Finally an arrangement is known in which brushes are provided at the type bars, which are adapted to slide over a contact bank. This, however, bears the disadvantage that trouble or faulty operations may easily be caused owing to the great danger of soiling.

Anyhow, all of the aforementioned devices or arrangements are featured by the deficiency that one reading element has to be provided for each position of the type bar, especially when many printing types are arranged on one bar, as is the case e.g. with the figure-type bars. Apart therefrom, the differences between the positions Z,Z7,lh9 Patented Mar. l, 1959 will then become relatively small, so that a reliable operation is no longer warranted, or the operation will become rather expensive owing to the special structural elements which become necessary in such cases. In addition thereto it is regarded as a disadvantage that faulty indications will become possible in the event of current outages.

All of these disadvantages are eliminated by means of the device according to the invention. The object of the invention is to provide a mechanical device for the reading and storing of the working positions of a moving machine element, in particular of the positions of a type bar in booking, computing and similar machines of this type.

According to the invention a template is provided which is either directly or indirectly connected with the moving machine element, and which is so designed that there can be represented in it the different or various positions of the machine element in any desirable selectable code, as well as mechanical means for determining and storing the code combination corresponding to the respective position to be read. The code conversion by means of the template can be advantageously effected in that in the template there are provided several slots which are provided at their one edge with one or more indents or notches, so that, with respect to a plurality of reference lines, the number of different combinations of the notches of several slots corresponding to the number of diiferent working positions of the respective machine element will result. By means of this arrangement, the reading means are so designed and cooperate in such a way with the templates that the combination of notches corresponding to the setting of the machine element is determined by the setting of the machine element itself.

With respect to the reading and storing of the positions of a figure type bar comprising ten difierent possibilities of setting, it is of advantage that the template be provided with live slots containing such a number of notches per slot that, with respect to ten reference lines, a difierent combination of two notches of two slots will result respectively, so that a code conversion will be effected into a 2 out of 5 code.

When the template is provided with e.g. five parallelextending slots, then the scanning of the individual combinations can be eifected with the aid of transverse- 1y movable slides arranged above one another, each of which is provided with a rigidly connected plug projecting into the slot of the template. Owing to the fact that the slides are arranged on top of each other and the slots next to each other, the plugs of the slides may be aligned with each other when in the normal position in a straight line, so that the combinations of notches to be read are lying on a straight line extending in parallel with this imaginary straight line. Hence the setting of the combinations to be read in the template is effected by the movement of the type bar or type rod itself.

According to a further embodiment of the invention the reading means for the notch combinations are designed in such a way that with the aid of these means there is also effected a storing of the read position, in the course of which a new setting of the machine element is possible without requiring the erasing of the stored position. This is accomplished in that the transversal movement of the slides with the associated plugs between the edges of the slots is possible for all slides in common, and further in that there is possible a relative additional reciprocal movement of the slides in the direction of the notches as the plugs move from the notch-side edge of the slots into the notches, and in that the relative movement or displacement is retained. The scanning of the notch combinations and the fixing of the reciprocal positions of the slides subsequently to the scanning can be appropriately achieved by means of resting rods which are compulsorily moved forwardly and backwardly and are arranged above each other, and which rods are adapted to effect the transversal movements of the slides, but which can also be moved in either direction without movr ng the slides by engaging recesses in the slides in which tney are permitted to occupy two stop positions at a spaced relation of about the depth of the notches.

The particular advantages of the device according to the invention, consist in that by means of one single template the positions of the machine element can be read, can be converted into any suitable code, and can be mechanically stored, without affecting the following or subsequent movements of the machine element, and that the positions, if so desired, can also be sent forward electrically, and in that there are required substantially less contacts than with the conventional arrangements or devices of the first group. Apart therefrom the arrangement can be designed and embodied in a very narrow space, so as' to permit many templates to be arranged next to each other in a small space. Further advantages reside in the possibility of permitting the employment of any suitable code, so that, if so required, reading of a great number of positions may be affected; further in low cost, low susceptibility to interferences, simple maintenance, and in fact that the attachment of the templates does not cause any alterations of the machine.

In the following the invention, as well as further advantages thereof, will be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which there is shown the operating process required for the reading of one position of a figure type bar and in which: i

Fig. 1a shows schematically a part of a book-keeping machine, as well as the reading device, according to the invention;

Fig. 1b is an elevational view of the ends of the slides, showing the manner of making the electrical connections;

,Fig. 1c is a plan view of a portion of the machine of Fig. 1a at the left of the line CD of that figure;

. Flg. 2 is an elevational view of the template of Fig. 1a with the machine element raised to near its upper limit and with the ends of the slides in alignment before the slides have been set to their new positions; 7

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the slides set in their new position.

In the book-keeping machine several vertically dis- .placeable type bars 11 are provided in a well known manner. One of these bars isshown in detail in Fig. 1a of the drawings. The vertical movement of this type bar may be accomplished e.g. via the rack 40 that is 'firmly connected therewith and. the pinion gear that meshes with it. The toothed pinion 41 is rotated by the type keys of the book-keeping machine in such a manner that the type bar is lifted so as to bring the respective type into the printing position. The hammer 42 will vthen hit this type against the platen 43 over which the sheet of printing or message paper isled. The operations which are being carried out in the book-keeping machine, such as also the returning of the type bar subsequently to the printing process, however, are well known and do not form part of the subject matter of this invention, and, therefore, need notbe further described herein.

The template 12 is mounted on the type bar at the end of the rack by means of a pivot pin 11 so that it will follow the vertical movements of said type bar. In this template 12 the five slots 13 are provided with notches 14 on their left-hand sides. Therewith the ten setting possibilities of the type bar 11 may be converted into a In order to etfect this 2 out of 5 code, five slides 16, designated by Roman numerals I to V, are mounted, one above the other,for limited longitudinal reciprocating movement in a suitablesuppo'rting frame 16, the slides being perpendicular to the directionof movement of the template 12. Each of the slides carries a plug 15 which extends outwardly from the side thereof, these plugs being positioned at different points on the slides so that each is aligned with a difierent one of the slots 13 and extends into said slot. When the slides are in their normal positions with the ends aligned, the plugs 15 will lie in an imaginary straight line 23, as shown in Fig. 2' of the drawings. It will be easily? seen that exactly ten parallel straight lines, spaced from line 23, could be drawn, each of which passes through two notches of two slots. Further it will be seen that the thus connected notches will result in ten different combinations. Since the template, together with the type bar, is moved vertically, the ten parallel lines may be brought into coincidence with the five plugs 15, so that the positions of the type bars are defined by the combinations of the notches. Instead of a conversion into a 2 out of 5 code, any suitable code conversion may be carried out, provided that the templates are designed correspondingly.

' After the type bar has been brought into the printing position, its position is also defined by the corresponding combination of the notches with respect to the plugs 15, so that this combination may also now be read for identifying or determining the respective printing type. This is accomplished with the aid of the slides 16, which are reciprocable, and are capable of occupying two final or end positions. Each slide carries one of the plugs 15 extending in fixed position from the side thereof. The movement of the slides is effected by the action of the eccentric 17 and the common guide bar 18, which carries the vertically aligned resting rods 20, one for each slide rigidly supported thereon, as shown in Figs. 4- and 5. The resting rods 20 engage the vertically aligned recesses 19 in the edges of the slides 16. Above the recess 19 of each slide a stop spring 21 is welded or otherwise secured. This spring is bent to form a U-shaped actuator 22 which projects into the recess. With respect to the stop spring 21, the resting rod is adapted to assume twqdiiferent positions, namely on ,the left or the right of the actuator 22.

type bar is shown in its normal or lowermost position,

while the preceding setting of the type bar is still stored in the slides.

In Fig. 1c of the drawings a sectional plan'view is shown, taken on the line CD of Fig. la, and looking in the direction of the arrow A in which the drive for the guide bars 18 is shown. The eccentric 117 is driven by a motor44 which drives the shaft 45 over a worm 44' and worm wheel 44", the latter being freely mounted on the shaft. The hub 45' of the worm wheel is attached to one part of a clutch 46 the other part of which is secured to the shaft. A plurality of eccentrics 17 are fixed in a spaced relation to the shaft, the number cor responding to the number of type bars 11 employed in a The shaft 45 is rotatably mounted in the bearings 47 Each of the eccentrics cooperates with a guide bar 18, as shown in Figs. 1a, 2,

3, and 4, the guide bar being caused to. reciprocate as the eccentric is rotated.

The eccentric 17 is designed in such a way and, upon the. setting of the type bar, is. turned in such a way that the guide bar 18 is moved at first towards the right, i.e.

slides, HI and IV, are in towards the non-interrupted edges 13. As will be seen from Fig. 1a, the resting rods 20 of the third andfourth the right-hand stop position, while the other resting rods are in the left-hand stop position. Further, the plugs15'of the thirdand of the fourth'slides, III and IV, meet against the left and-the plugs of the remaining slides against the right-hand edges of the slots. The slides now correspond to a certain setting of the type bar of the preceding operating process. I

At this particular position of the shaft 45, the template 12 is free to move vertically without affecting the positions of the slides 16, so that the type bar 11 can be adjusted to a new position. A 90 rotational movement of the eccentric 17 in the direction of the arrow will now effect a displacement of the guide bar 18 and, consequently of the row of rest rods 20 to the right a distance equal exactly to the width of the slots in the template. Because of the fact that the resting rods of the third and of the fourth slides III and IV, meet against the right-hand edges of the notches 19, and the plugs of these slides can freely move from the left to the right-hand edges 13 of the slots. The third and the fourth slides III and IV, owing to the enforced movement of the resting rods, are taken along towards the right. The resting rods of the first, second and fifth slides, I, II, and V, are likewise urged towards the right and attempt to take along the corresponding slides. However, since the plugs 15 of these slides are lying closely against the right-hand edges 13' of the slots, these slides are prevented from being moved to the right. On account of their compulsory movement, the resting rods 20 cooperating with the first, second, and fifth slides, I, II, and V, overcome the spring tension of the springs 21 and jump under the actuators 22 into the right-hand stop position. After one rotational movement of 90 of the eccentric, therefore, all the slides have moved so that the resting rods 2i have assumed the right-hand stop positions, and all slides 16 are in the right-hand final or end position, so that the preceding storing is erased and a neutral initial condition is established, as shown in Fig. 2. In the meantime the template has been raised to a new position near the upper limit of its movement, as shown.

In the course of the further rotational movement of the eccentric 17, the guide bar 18 is moved to the left. Since all plugs 15 are at first capable of being freely moved, all of the resting rods 20, although moving to the left, will remain in their right-hand stop positions with respect to the slides until the plugs 15 will have reached the left-hand edge of the slots. This condition will be established after a 180 rotational movement of the eccentric.

In the course of the further rotational movement of the eccentric those ones of the resting rods 20 whose co esponding slide plugs 15 are further capable of moving freely, in other words, whose plugs 15 are aligned with notches 14, will remain in the right-hand stop position, although continuing to move to the left. In the present example these are the plugs of the second and of the fifth slides, II and V. The plugs of the remaining slides meet against the left-hand edges of the slots, so that the resting rods 29, on account of their compulsory movement, will overcome the tension of the springs 21 and will jump under the actuators 22 into the left-hand stop position. Accordingly, after the third 90 rotational movement, that condition will be established, as is shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings.

The third and the fifth slides, III and V, are characterized with respect to the other slides by their special position, and in this way a code conversion of the type bar position in a 3-out-of-5 code is carried out.

The last 90 rotational movement of the eccentric serves to bring the slides 16 into the actual working position, i.e. to make the mechanical storing capable of being electrically read for the further processing purpose. In the most simple way this may be accomplished with the aid of contacts which, by the action of the specifically designed slides, and depending upon their respective end position, are either opened or closed. The electric reading will be effected only after the termina- 6 tion of the operating process or of the whole working cycle, so that an actuation of the contacts during this process will remain ineffective, and wherein it is to be understood that one operating process or Working cycle includes one complete forward and backward movement of the resting rods v20.

After one full rotation of the eccentric, the slides will remain in the assumed position until the next scanning process independently of the vertical movement of the template, because the stop springs 21 prevent the slides from being shifted in an arbitrary manner; accordingly a storing of the setting is achieved.

In Fig. 1b of the drawings a pair of spring contacts 43 are schematically shown for each slide. As will be easily seen from the showing of this Fig. 1b, the first, second, and fifth slides, I, H, and V, have pushed themselves between their associating contacts and have thus either respectively interrupted or completed a corresponding circuit extending via the leads 49 to a perforating evice (not shown) in which, in the present example, both the third and the fourth perforating needles will be actuated.

Hence the storing is not erased by the vertical movements of the templates. For any new initial positions of the type bars the storage of the preceding positions of the type bars will be maintained in the slides. When a new setting of the type bars is to be read, then the described reading or scanning process will be repeated. With respect to all prints that are not supposed to be read, the template may be moved freely, without affecting the storage of the slides in any way.

The starting of the eccentric rotation is effected via the clutch 46 which may be controlled by the action of a relay (not shown). The contacts of this relay are actuated by the elements adapted to effect the setting of the type bars. The clutch is automatically disengaged again after one full rotation of the eccentric in a manner not shown. By means of a latching arrangement, (not shown) no new setting of the slides can be accomplished prior to the termination of the scanning of the slide storage.

The button-hole slot 50 in the template 17 actually does not form part of the subject matter of this invention, but is merely used to permit a swivel movement of the rack 40, which is necessary, for example, in cases where the rack, by means of this swivel movement, is adapted to be engaged to the pinion of an arithmetic unit.

While we have described above the principles of our invention in connection with specific apparatus, it is to be clearly understood that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation to the scope of our invention as set forth in the objects thereof and in the accompanying claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A mechanical device for the reading and storing of the working positions of a moving machine element, comprising a template connected to the machine element for movement in a predetermined path which represents the path of movement of said element, said predetermined path including a plurality of positions which represent the difi'erent operating positions of said machine element, and mechanical means controlled by said template for determining and storing a code combination corresponding to and identifying the respective position of said template, the template being provided with a plurality of slots extending in the direction of the path of movement thereof and each having at least one notch in a corresponding edge of said slot,.so that, with respect to a plurality of reference lines corresponding to the number of working positions of the machine element, a number of different combinations of the notches of several slots will result, the code combination determining and storing means being so designed and cooperating in such a way with said template that the combina- 7 y 7 tion of notches corresponding to the setting of said machine element forms the code combination and is determinedby the setting of the machine element itself. 12. A mechanical device, as claimed in claim 1, in which the positions or" the machine element comprise'ten different possibilities of setting, the template being provided ,with 'five slots and such a number of notches per slot 'that, with respect to ten reference lines, each will have a of the template from the plugs on the other slides, which plugs are adapted to ascertain the notches in the slots during the movement of said slides, the combinations of notches to be read lying in parallel straight lines parallel to an imaginary straight line connecting the plugs of the slides in the normal or initial position, and means for moving said slides in both directions longitudinally thereof.

,4. A mechanical device, as claimed in claim 3, in which the determining and storing means comprises common fmeans for resiliently urging all the slides, first towards one edge of the slots and then towards the other edge, whereby slides having plugs aligned with notches in the cooperating slots are moved farther in the direction of the notches as the plugs enter the notches.

5. A mechanical device, as claimed in claim 4, in which the means for urging the slides first moves them in a direction away from the notches for a suflicient distance to permit the plugs in the notches to move out of the notches while maintaining the setting of the slides, whereby the relative displacement of the said slides is maintained until the next successive reading takes place.

6. A mechanical device, as claimed in claim 3, in which the mechanical means for determining and storing a code combination comprises a plurality of stop rods, one for each slide, each slide having means for permitting limited relative movement between. said slide and its associated stop rod, means for moving said stop rods in uni-' son first in one direction and then in the other longitudinally of said slides so as to effect the transverse movement of said slides, and spring means for holding each stop rod in one or the other of its extreme positions of relative movement, whereby the plugs may be moved in both directions without taking along the slides, and whereinone cycle of Jthe means for moving said stop rods includes one complete movement of the 'said stop rods in each direction. I g

' 7'. A mechanical device as claimed in claim 6, in which the means' for permitting limiting movement between each, slide and its associated stop rod comprises a recess 'in each slide engaged by' said rod, and the holding means comprises a stop spring projecting into said recess and 'againstwhich the said stop rod meets during its movement and thus efiects a movement of the said slide until the plug of said'slide meets the left-handor right-hand edge of the slot, the tension 'of said spring being overcome by the stop rod in the course of its further movement, so that it is capable'of jumping over into the other or opposite stop position. 1

8. A mechanical device, as claimed in claim 7, in which the means for moving the slides comprises a guide bar and an eccentric operatively connected therewith to effect the reciprocating movement of said guidebar in the longitudinal direction of said slides, the stop rods being rigidly mounted on said guide bar.

9. A mechanical device, as claimed in claim 3, further comprising a plurality of contacts mounted in the path of the slides, which contacts, depending on the final position of the slides, are either opened or closed by said slides, so that transmission of the stored information regarding the positions of the machine element is rendered possible.

10. A mechanical device, as claimed in claim 9, in which the ends of said slides are so designed that they are capable of sliding between the springs of contacts, whereby they may be made to control an electric circuit.

11. A mechanical device for the reading and storing of the working positions of a moving machine element,

, ofsaid template and to maintain the setting of said storing means until said. template reaches its next position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,511,956 Wetzel June 20, 1950 

